MythBusters (2003) s14e05 Episode Script

*DO* Try This at Home

What you're about to see
could be downright dangerous,
so, a word of advice
Leave the myth busting to us.
On this episode
of "MythBusters"
With good reason,
we've spent 10 years
telling you to not try this at home.
But in this episode,
we've compiled a bunch of things
that we think you might be able
to try at home.
Like this.
Well, not exactly like that,
but after 200 episodes of saying
Don't try this at home! Whoa!
the MythBusters are apparently
changing their tune
to deliver a DIY science special.
Your results may vary.
So prepare your safety glasses
Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!
your pocket protectors
Oh! Holy crap!
And your clipboard
Wow!
because for this episode,
they're finding myths
you can maybe try at home
Or maybe not.
Who are the MythBusters?
- Adam Savage
- It's scientific!
And Jamie Hyneman.
Bye-bye!
Between them, more than 30 years
of special-effects experience.
Together with Kari Byron
The golden dragon!
Tory Belleci
We're gonna die!
and Grant Imahara.
Who wants some?!
They don't just tell the myths.
They put them to the test.
MythBusters 13x05 - DO Try This At Home
Original air date February 1, 2014
Okay, so, the "DO Try This
At Home" Special.
Exactly.
Our lawyers are actually okay with this?
They are, but here's the thrust
of this episode.
We are gonna be testing
a bunch of zany experiments
and viral videos
and assessing, one,
whether or not they're true,
but, two, whether or not they're
actually okay to try at home.
So some of this may be
actually too dangerous to try?
Yes.
The first one, though, I think
is gonna be pretty easy to try at home,
and it's a classic microwaved water.
Oh, yeah.
Microwaved water will kill plants
if you water them with it.
I don't think it's true at all,
and I think we should test it.
It's an Internet myth
that has spread worldwide.
Supposedly, these pictures are evidence
that water boiled in a microwave
is toxic to plants,
but could that be true,
or is this myth in hot water?
Well, if it turns out
you can try this at home,
you'll need the following
And down in the shop,
Adam's green thumb is prepping
his test of the waters.
So, the question we're gonna answer is,
does microwave-boiled water kill plants?
Ohh.
Very nice.
To determine that,
we are going to expose
some plants to microwave-boiled
water, of course.
Beautiful.
We're also gonna compare that
to some other controls.
One will be water boiled on the stove,
one will be just regular tap water,
one will be no water at all.
And now for the
supposedly toxic ingredient
the microwave-boiled water.
Obviously, conduct this experiment,
you're gonna need a bunch of water
that's been boiled in a microwave,
bombarded by those evil microwaves.
Put it in.
Push the button. Start. There we go.
Run it for five minutes of
full power, see if that works.
There we go. All right.
Now, as a point of clarity,
I want to point out
the myth isn't that plants
don't like boiling water.
For gosh sake, don't pour
boiling water on your plants.
You'll kill them immediately,
like most other living things.
No, let this water cool down
to room temperature
before using it on a living thing.
Well, with his three
types of H2O inside the rig,
he's ready to get his thumbs green.
There we go.
We've used eight
romaine lettuce in four groups,
and we're subjecting those four groups
to four distinctly different
conditions of water.
Now, that water is coming
from these buckets up here,
through these water timers,
and they're all set to water the plants
for exactly the same amount of time
and exactly the same amount
of water every single day.
"But wait," you say,
"what about sunlight?"
Ah, we thought of that.
Ta-da! That's the light.
These are actual grow lights.
We're gonna subject our plants
to these grow lights
for about 16 hours a day,
a really nice vibrant sunlight,
and we'll log their growth
on this chart here.
After a week, I swear
we should see a difference.
After a couple of weeks,
I think this test
is gonna be pretty definitive.
But as exciting
as it is to watch lettuce grow,
let's fast-forward
one week into the future.
All right, let's see how
everyone's been doing.
Look at that.
9.25".
The microwave-boiled water
is outgrowing everything else.
It was around 51/2 inches,
and now it's over 9 inches tall.
Right now, it's not looking
very good for the myth.
So, after two weeks of growth,
Adam is let loose amongst
the lettuce for the last time.
What we wanted to determine
was whether microwave water
was dangerous, and I think,
definitively,
we've proved that it's not.
Look at this.
This is the healthiest plant in here.
Both of these, they're higher
than any of the others,
and they got the microwave-boiled water.
They're totally fine.
Oh, and we also determined that no water
is really, really crappy for plants,
so note that, you brown thumbs.
It may be busted,
but don't take our word for it.
Try this at home.
Next up, some emergency firefighting.
All right, so, first up
is a viral video.
The fans want to know if it's possible
and if they can try it at home.
Check it out.
With a runabout ablaze,
it's jet boat to the rescue,
fighting fire with speed.
Wow, he's doing it.
This guy's crazy.
But in a crisis,
could an extreme 180
really extinguish a fire?
Dude, that is awesome.
But you know what?
There's something a little fishy
about that video.
It does look like there could be
some kind of visual effects
going on there.
We need to find out
if this thing is repeatable.
Yay, let's go boating!
Motorboating.
You old sailor, you.
So to find out if this works,
over at Big Break Marina,
they're re-creating all the elements
of this emergency situation.
So, the boat we're gonna be using
to put out the fire is this.
It's a 1978 charger jet boat.
It's got a 350 Oldsmobile engine.
Come aboard, matey.
All right, safety first,
my friends, safety first.
Not only that, but it shoots
a rooster tail up to 120 feet.
We should be able
to put out the fire with this.
I wish we had dorkier life preservers.
Sorry, man.
These are the dorkiest ones
we could possibly find.
What are you talking about?
They match the boat.
They are in this season's
color of safety.
It's hot.
And the best part is,
they're letting me drive,
except the owner has one stipulation.
He wants to be on the boat with us,
which doesn't make any sense
'cause this is probably the most
dangerous place you can be.
I think we need to practice.
See some stunt driving! Whoo!
Precision driving
is key to this myth,
so, first, Tory needs
to get the boat up to speed,
then just before he crashes
into the pylon,
pull off that 180 turn
so that the boat sends up
that dousing rooster tail.
That's nice.
That was amazing practice,
but I think it's time to light a fire.
Let's do it.
Yeah, I think you got it, man.
The second element
of this emergency
is the flaming boat,
and for that,
they're taking precautions.
Oh, hay.
So, this fine watercraft
is our fireboat.
We're going to set a bale of hay
and a pallet on fire
and let it burn.
You got the air underneath
so that it can light all of this hay
and actually get a good burn.
This thing should flame up nicely.
Now, if things go well,
we'll be able to put it out
using the boat.
And if not, the fire department
is on hand to put it out.
Time to set the fire,
but before we do that,
we're going to wet down all of the lands
right behind where the boat's gonna be.
We don't want any stray embers
to cause any unnecessary fire.
The boat is now set
to go up just like the video.
Great. Some vacation, Kari.
But will the speedboat's
rooster tail quench the blaze?
All right, boat's tied.
Tory's all ready to go.
All we got to do is set the fire now.
Yeah, let's do this.
Now, I'm not gonna lie.
I am a little nervous.
I mean, this isn't my boat.
All right,
proceed with lighting the fire.
We're gonna be flying
at 50 miles an hour,
straight towards a flaming boat,
and at the last minute,
I need to crank on the wheel
so that I don't crash into the boat
but spray water onto it.
All right, boys. We have a raging fire.
Bring it on in.
And not only that, I'm gonna have Grant
and the owner of the boat
in the boat with me
so if I crash,
I'm not just hurting myself,
I'm hurting two other people.
I'm scared @#$%less.
All right, man, there it is.
Just so I understand what we're doing,
we're heading straight towards
a flaming boat, right?
- Exactly.
- Okay.
And then, at the last minute,
we're gonna turn out.
I hope this works.
Now.
After 10 years
of impossible, dangerous,
and downright crazy myths
that you shouldn't
Something just touched me!
Or couldn't try at home,
this episode is all about
finding things maybe you can.
So, next, Adam and Jamie
get into a rhythm
with one, two, five
216 metronomes.
Keep going, keep going.
Well, that escalated quickly,
but how did they end up here?
There are a bunch of videos out there
that show these things getting into sync
if you let them run for a while.
Come on, guys. Get with it.
It all looks so easy online.
Although they start out syncopated,
these metronomes eventually tick over
into a synchronized symphony.
But can you make metronomes
dance to the same beat at home?
There is one thing that I keep noticing
in all the videos
of the metronomes syncing up,
and it is that they always seem
to be sitting on a platform
that moves slightly, that's got
a little shake or shimmy to it.
Let me show you
why I think that's important.
If I move this metronome
while it's ticking
even small movements
have a significant effect
on the periodicity of its ticking.
I've got a couple of soda cans.
This is my platform with shimmy.
Got a metronome, and I just want
to see what happens
when I put one on here.
Do you see it?
It's totally moving.
This is very cool.
This little metronome
is definitely having
an appreciable effect on my platform,
and I think it'll have
even more of an effect
if the platform's lighter.
And I've got just the thing.
All right, this is working great.
It's definitely having
more of an appreciable effect.
Just got a nice
bearing surface platform,
light aluminum pipes,
and a very light platform
for it to sit on.
I'm taking away as much friction
and momentum as I can
so that only the metronome
is having the effect.
Now let's try two.
Adam doubles his trouble
with two metronomes
set to the same tick mark.
Look at the movement on this platform.
And after two minutes,
the shimmy takes over.
Stay with it, boys.
It just took them a little while
to find each other's rhythm.
So, if two will sync,
will five march to the beat?
This pink one is messing
with my mellow here.
Well, three minutes in
and something has come unsunk.
This pink one is way out
of phase with the other four.
The other four seem to want to
get into phase with each other,
but the pink one's
not playing along nicely.
Why can't you
get along like your brothers?
All right,
here we go. Let's try.
Amazingly, it seems that Adam
has tickled the pink
just the right amount.
There it is. Okay.
We got it working.
Yep, they're in sync.
That's awesome.
Okay. Everyone be quiet,
everyone be quiet.
Stop, stop, stop.
All right. Let me explain
what happened here.
This pink one was not
playing well with the others,
and I noticed when I was watching it
that it was just consistently
a little too slow.
So, on the theory that
the manufacturing tolerances
on these metronomes are loose,
I sped it up by dropping it
a tiny amount
below its lowest tick mark,
which is what all the others are set at.
And that turned out to be
the magic bullet
that helped this all get in sync.
It's awesome to know. These are tunable.
And now that he's got
his tickers tweaked,
just how many can he make dance
to his tune?
Got it!
I can't fit any more on here.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11.
Dude, it's really kind of amazing.
They go way out of sync,
then they come back into sync,
and eventually they find this.
And if one of them's out
They kind of get him back in line.
They all just want to be friends.
They all want to be friends,
they all want to do the same thing.
Adam's taken this to 11.
I sense a serious escalation
about to start.
Down at Big Break Marina
Oh, you got a good, raging fire.
Blast it.
Copy that. We're on the way.
Tory is zooming full speed ahead
Here he comes. Straight for the pylon.
to test an emergency
firefighting trick.
I hope this works.
Rip it. Whoo!
Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!
Tory's rooster tail certainly
seems to have doused the boat,
but there's no smoke without fire,
so the guys reset.
Reset so we can do it again
with one more pass,
just to make sure it's out.
I think it's looking good, though.
Skipper Belleci takes another turn
at fighting fire with speed.
Here we go! Whoo-hoo!
Yeah!
I think you got it, man.
I think we put it out. Whoo-hoo!
They've just got to be smolders.
There's no way that's still on fire.
I think it went out with the first pass.
The second pass is insurance.
I think the third time's just for fun.
Clearly, you can
extinguish a fire
with an emergency U-turn.
Whoa!
Yeah!
Wow, they got so close
to the boat this time!
That was amazing.
But now that they know
this firefighting feat is no myth,
the question is,
should you try this at home?
That was crazy.
Going at full throttle,
50 miles an hour,
straight towards a flaming boat.
Whoo-hoo-hoo!
And then, right before I hit it,
I had to crank the wheel
to spray the water
onto the flaming boat.
Whoo! It worked!
It worked! You put out the fire.
Dude, I totally can't believe
it worked, but you know what?
I don't think I'd try this at home.
Yes, we were able to pull this off
despite not being
professional firefighters,
despite not being
professional boat drivers.
But here's the thing.
In order to do this,
you need to overcome your fear
of driving directly at a flaming boat,
and be able to turn at the last second.
Not to mention, you need a jet boat.
Unfortunately,
this is not something
that just anybody can do.
Yep, it's always best
to leave the firefighting
to the professionals.
I wonder if Jess will let me
borrow his boat again.
Anytime.
Well, the myth that metronomes,
if placed on a proper surface
and activated together,
will eventually sync themselves up
seems to be on pretty solid footing.
Got it to work with a couple,
got it to work with a handful,
but now it's time to go for broke.
In front of me here
is an air-hockey table,
and Jamie has set out,
carefully, 216 metronomes.
This is more than we have ever seen
in any of the videos
demonstrating this phenomenon.
In a few minutes, we are hoping
that we'll be setting
an unofficial world's record.
Why are we using an air-hockey table?
Air hockey is a game
in which the puck floats
on a cushion of air.
It's definitely floating.
And now our metronomes
will float on a cushion of air.
That should allow them
the low-friction environment
that makes them shimmy their way
to synchronization.
So, how do you want to do this?
I'll start at this corner.
Why don't you start at that corner,
and we'll just go for it?
All right, you want to count it in?
All right.
Three, two, one, go.
It's a painstaking task
to start all the metronomes one by one.
Done with my half.
But now that they're ticking
at the same tempo,
in theory,
they should start that shimmy.
Now they're all going.
They're all going,
and they're floating
on the cushion of air.
I'm really I'm totally
hypnotized by the sound.
I know.
But with 216 metronomes,
almost 20 times the amount
of their last attempt,
can they break a world record,
or will the metronomes
march to a different tune?
It's the
"DO Try This At Home" special,
and next up, Adam and Jamie
are investigating
the old ball chain.
We all know what this stuff
is regular chrome ball chain.
Keys, IDs, and dog tags
have been hanging from it for decades,
but we've got a viral video
that seems to show this stuff,
under the right conditions,
behaving almost against
the force of gravity.
So, supposedly,
this gravity-defying feat
is achieved without any
special-effects wizardry,
but are they yanking your chain,
or could you really re-create it
with just a ball chain,
a beaker, and, if you have one,
a high-speed camera?
Check this out.
Let's check out the high-speed.
Hey, Adam.
No!
It's like it's going all the way
across the room.
Wow.
It doesn't look like it should
be able to do that, does it?
No.
It's like magic.
That is frickin' gorgeous.
That is so frickin' cool.
Cool and surprising,
as the ball chain seems to levitate out
and over the lip of the cup,
and this strange behavior
has gotten Jamie thinking.
Now we've got some bigger chain.
Let's see if it goes further.
It does seem,
the bigger the ball,
the greater the effect,
but is this gravity-defying act
also related to the distance
you are from the ground?
Okay, let's see what this does
from 8 feet up.
That made a difference.
It's clear from our testing
that there are two key forces
that are causing this effect.
And the first is that mass
moving in a particular direction
wants to continue moving
in that direction.
So when we're yanking the chain
up out of the pot,
it wants to continue moving upward.
But shortly after, gravity
starts to pull it down,
and so that's where we get this arc.
If one of these forces
is out of balance,
like, as in if gravity starts
to pull down too hard,
then we don't get as large of an arc.
But when these two forces
are perfectly balanced,
coupled with the unique
symmetrical and slick
design of this chain, it all converges
to create an arc that seems like
it should be impossible.
But whatever the explanation,
it's a really cool effect.
It's cool,
and to take it to the max,
Adam's got this one all chained up.
Wow.
The biggest ball chain
I could possibly buy.
Whenever you're ready.
Here we go.
Wow!
That was amazing!
That worked really well.
It's almost magical
watching the chain flow,
seemingly defying gravity,
out of the cup.
My favorite part about it, though,
is that is seems to be proportional
to the size of the ball chain,
so you get a little loop
with stuff like this,
and you get a nice giant loop
with stuff like this.
I didn't even know they made
stuff this big until this story.
This is awesome.
Yep, this chain
reaction is surprisingly DIY.
So, break out the beakers
and the ball chain,
and make sure
that you do try this at home.
Next, the team is on a chemistry safari.
All right,
these next chemical experiments,
fans want us to test,
one, if they're genuine
and two, if it's something
that they can try at home.
What are they?
Elephant toothpaste
and exploding snakes.
Elephants and exploding things?
Are we sure that this is something
that people can do at home?
Well, with an ingredients list
made up of household items,
elephant toothpaste is the first
DIY science to try.
All you need is
a little hydrogen peroxide,
the kind you would get
for dyeing your hair,
liquid dish soap,
a little food coloring for pizzazz.
Ooh.
And, finally, the catalyst,
which is plain old yeast.
Are you about to blow our minds?
I am. Stand back.
Whoa.
Whoa.
It's like a volcano from science fair.
Look at that. It's minty fresh.
It's easy to see
why this super-sized foam
is called elephant toothpaste.
Now, in its basic form, hydrogen
peroxide is extremely stable,
but what's happening here
is when you add the yeast,
it's decomposing the hydrogen
peroxide very rapidly,
and releasing oxygen.
The oxygen is getting captured
inside the liquid dish soap,
which is creating bubbles
and this big, foamy, awesome mess.
And although it passes
the "try this at home" test,
it's just a frothy fountain.
So how about an
only-on-"MythBusters" twist?
Don't try this at home.
All right, to take this experiment
from "go ahead, try it at home"
to "MythBusters" danger,
we're gonna use
some lab-grade components here.
We have a higher concentration
of hydrogen peroxide,
and for our catalyst, potassium iodide.
Now, these are much more caustic
chemicals here,
and the reaction
is a lot more energetic.
Okay, so, take two,
but this is definitely
a "do not try at home."
- One step back.
- Is it gonna get crazy?
Yeah? You about to drop
some science on us?
- You ready?
- Do it.
Whoa.
Holy crap.
What the heck?
Much more energetic experiment.
Look how hot it is.
You can see the steam coming off.
Yep,
that's the kind of toothpaste
an elephant would be proud of.
But now we've seen the toothpaste,
didn't someone mention
an exploding snake?
Now, for the most part,
elephant toothpaste
is the sort of experiment
you can do at home.
This next one is a little bit different.
It's called "explosive snake."
Now, the first part of it
involves sugar,
which, by itself, is innocuous.
The part that makes it different
is the other half,
which is this sulfuric acid.
Look at that! Wow!
Sulfuric acid is corrosive.
It's caustic, and if you
splash it on your skin,
you could get severe burns
so, unfortunately, not the sort of thing
you want to try at home.
And to do this experiment,
I think I'm gonna need
a slightly different wardrobe.
Ah, that's better.
So, I've got an apron
to protect my clothing.
Acid gloves should protect my hands,
and a face shield for my face.
Now it's time to mix up the elements.
It's another
"do not try this at home,"
but will it be explosive?
Okay, so, it's coming.
Eh, actually, no.
Okay, so, what happened here?
Well, the acid interacts with the sugar
and breaks it down into its components,
releases water in the form of steam,
and it leaves behind carbon,
which is what the snake is.
Now, it's a very cool reaction,
but not necessarily all that explosive.
I think, in order to be explosive,
it should be faster and more violent,
and I think I can find
a reaction that does that.
So lab raider Imahara
swaps out the sugar
for a classified organic compound,
adds the sulfuric acid,
then brings a little heat
to the equation.
But will this result
in that explosive snake?
Watch it.
Okay, don't blink, 'cause
this can happen really fast.
Okay. This is it.
- No way!
- That's amazing.
It's an instantaneous
process called de-ammonization.
The sulfuric acid
dehydrated the compound,
leaving in its wake
a flaky carbon snake.
So, conclusion
two explosive snakes by different means,
but, unfortunately,
because of the sulfuric acid,
you can't try either of them at home.
So, while both myths
are confirmed,
unless you've got access to a lab tech
and lab-grade materials,
you can't try these at home.
Meanwhile, back at metronome HQ
Every now and then, it sounds
like they're getting together.
Yeah.
I do think that they cross
phases somehow,
but I think they may be in sequence,
but not in the correct position.
If you look down the line,
there's no rhythm or reason to this.
It's a case of "so far, not so good."
What you're about to see
could be dangerous.
We're trained professionals,
so, please,
leave the myth busting to us.
Next, could
this soda stunt do you harm?
Next up is a story
that should definitely never
be tried at home
or anywhere else for that matter,
given that it's illegal
in a bunch of states.
What's that?
Dry-ice bombs.
Yep, well, exploding things
is never a good idea to try,
so why is it we're tackling it
on this show?
Because, like it or not,
people do try this at home.
These things put out a tremendous bang.
I think they also put out
a tremendous bite.
That's what we want to look at.
So we want to find out just how
dangerous they really are?
Exactly.
We're gonna look precisely at why
you should not try
dry-ice bombs at home.
This DIY device
works on that old
trapped-pressure principle,
which the MythBusters know can
be both spectacular and lethal.
Oh!
But just how lethal will these
dry-ice bombs turn out to be?
To find out,
Adam's got to set his cap first.
The capping it and getting away
is where the real danger is.
I've seen these things go off
as quickly as a few seconds,
so I don't want to be
anywhere near these things
when we're trying to film them
on high-speed camera
and assess their damage.
That might work.
Now, we're gonna be conducting
this test with bottles
as different as this one and this one,
but I need to put the caps on all of them,
and my method is gonna be
using this thing
because it has a handy
turning part out the front.
That's how we're gonna do it.
Adam sorted
the hands-free capping.
Put your forearm into that hole.
But now Jamie needs to give
this dry-ice combo a hand.
We want to find out
exactly how dangerous
this is to somebody
that might be holding on to it.
Obviously, we're not gonna use
our own hands for that,
so we're gonna need
some artificial hands.
Beauty.
That came out perfect.
So, we've got our complete set
of hand molds now.
All we have to do
is put these skeletons in them
and then put the tops on them,
strap them together,
fill them with rubber,
and we're good to go.
Since we're anticipating
a little bit of physical damage
to the hand, we might as well
make it look good.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, it's so pretty.
Nice. It's gonna be perfect
for the test.
Yeah.
So, now they can get
hands-on with their dry-ice device.
I'm not running for my own recreation.
Who would do that?
No, I'm running
because this is our location
for detonating the dry-ice bombs.
That's right.
We've come to the bomb range
because that's how seriously
we take the danger of these things.
It's serious,
because although soda bottles
are designed
to resist the pressure
of their carbonized contents,
expanding dry ice
is a whole nother ballgame.
Perfect.
So, what are we doing?
Well, we're putting frozen CO2
Yep, this stuff,
known commonly as dry ice.
Inside a sealed container,
along with a little bit of water.
The water converts
the frozen CO2 to gaseous CO2,
expanding to between 500 and 800
times its original volume.
Which will increase the pressure
inside the container
to in excess of 100 P.S.I.,
at which point it'll rupture violently,
releasing all of that gas,
not unlike what happens
when you set off an explosive.
Boom.
Yep, so, now it's time
to bring some data to the equation
and find out just how damaging
those booms can be.
Back at the shop
What is your problem?
things are starting to wind down.
Ah!
Keep going, keep going.
So Adam and Jamie
are winding them up again.
Remember, kids, this is
something you can do
with that extra 200 metronomes
you've got around the house.
After 30 minutes of ticking,
Adam tries a last-ditch attempt
to nudge the metronomes into sync.
Oh, look at that.
But as soon as he stops,
they come out of phase.
They're starting to run out.
Ohh!
And it's clear this game is up.
Jamie and I,
starting them one at a time,
were able to get them all going
in a couple of minutes,
but they never quite got synced up.
You could hear them going
in phase and out of phase.
That one's out, that one's out.
And certainly, looking down the aisles
and through the columns,
they looked awesome
and they sounded amazing,
but they never quite got
all in sync together.
I love the sound,
but this is not a successful
world-record attempt.
Every now and then,
you could hear them sort of
it sounded like they were
marching in step,
and then they'd march
right back out of step again.
This just totally didn't work.
Despite the high-tech,
low-friction air-hockey table,
the metronomes just didn't want
to synchronize.
So, clearly,
while these metronomes
work fine individually,
there is enough variation
in the manufacturing tolerance
that to get them all ticking
in perfect sync,
you would have to calibrate
each one individually.
Now, if you want to
cross-calibrate 216 metronomes,
by all means go ahead and give it a try.
This one's still going.
Shut up.
This is the biggest fail
we have ever achieved.
All that work.
Yeah, you can try this at home.
Your results may vary.
See you next time.
Now, we found this one on the Internet.
A man made a video
of water coming out of a hose,
and he made the water freeze in space.
I did exactly what he said to do.
I got a speaker.
I taped a hose with running water to it,
and then I attached it
to a tone generator.
Now, there's one last piece
to this puzzle,
and that's a video camera.
You ready to have your minds blown?
Look!
Whoa!
Now, watch this.
I can make it go backwards.
I'm gonna take it to 22 hertz.
It goes backwards!
- What?
- What?
Now, the whole reason
this optical illusion works
is 'cause you are shooting
24 frames per second.
If you set the hertz around 24,
it vibrates the water
so that the water's in the same place
every single time
the camera takes a picture,
which makes it look like
the water is frozen in space.
And if you play around with the hertz,
you can actually make it look
like the water is going in reverse.
It's not really, but it looks like it.
Kind of cool.
Wow. Look at that.
That is the biggest test tube
I've ever seen.
Now, you've seen elephant toothpaste.
What I'm gearing up for now
is something you've never seen
on television before
and definitely shouldn't try at home.
That is monster toothpaste.
We're supersizing it.
Go ahead. Take me up.
With over 200 times
the raw ingredients,
this will be monster toothpaste.
You guys ready?
I think the question is, are you ready?
She looks ready. Do it.
Okay.
Here we go.
This is monster toothpaste.
Oh, all right, go. Back me up.
Whoa!
Oh, my God.
Holy
- Nice.
- Anybody want a brush?
Oh, my God.
That's cool.
That's insane.
That was crazy.
Kari had this giant test tube.
She poured in the potassium iodide
and then the thing erupted.
I didn't think it was gonna go
very high, but it did,
and look at the mess we created.
So definitely don't try this at home.
Sure, monster toothpaste.
Sounded like a good idea at the time.
Who has to clean it up, huh?
Just how hazardous
is a dry-ice device to your health?
Well, now it's time to tune in
to the data and find out.
So, David Harding and his equipment,
which is in the form
of some pressure-sensing PCBs
placed strategically
around the explosion,
is gonna tell us
exactly how powerful they are.
David, you ready?
- Ready.
- All right.
Ice is in the bottle,
sensors are in place,
cameras are rolling.
It's time to add water.
Just add water.
You better get to a safe place.
Oh, it's getting bulgy.
You know, it's funny.
CO2 is what's normally
in those soda bottles.
This is sort of extreme soda, isn't it?
I think this one is gonna go
a little quick.
I hope so.
- Yeah.
- Nice!
The piece just fell down
after, like, five seconds.
The dry ice blitzed the bottle,
but just how bad was it?
What did we get?
3 P.S.I. from that explosion.
- That's it?
- That's all.
However, it looked like
it blew out the bottom,
where we don't have any direct sensors.
So that might be a falsely low rating?
That's right.
And as it happens,
we've got some more data.
Check this out.
Whoa!
No way!
That's steel,
and it's steel with an angle on it
so imagine what that'd do to your hand.
I mean, that's got to hurt.
And that was just a little bottle.
- Let's try the big one.
- Okay.
So, the 350-mil explosion
was steel-bendingly strong,
but as the 2-liter bottle
distends and elongates
with the expansion of the gases,
will it prove even more dangerous?
It's changing shape
at the bottom.
Look at that.
It's gonna be a good one.
Wow!
- Getting longer.
- Oh!
Oh!
- That was good.
- That was intense.
Intense, just like the data
from the PCB sensors.
The sensor results from
the big bottle going off are in,
and they're more than double
what the little bottle put out.
They were 7 P.S.I.
Now, that's enough to cause
permanent hearing damage.
As to what other kind
of injury it could cause,
the sensors may not be
telling the full story.
Show of hands, who wants to ramp it up?
The numbers alone
say you should never try this,
but there's still the damage test to go.
Yeah, I've got a prediction.
I don't think the explosion
we're gonna see
is gonna be as big
as this crater that Jamie made
when he arrived at work this morning
- You happy?
- Yeah.
Let's do it.
but I do think that after watching
what it does to the hands
on either side of the bottle,
you're not gonna want
to try this at home.
Frankly, I've always wanted to
do this particular experiment.
From the start,
the expansion of the CO2
pushes the hands apart.
It's moving.
It won't be long now.
Oh!
- That was loud.
- Yeah.
That violent rupture
sent the arms akimbo,
but although they seemed
to flail away from the pressure,
surely they're not undamaged
by all that P.S.I.
Oh!
I got a broken wrist right here, Jamie.
Yeah, I'd I'd say so.
Look on it whipped it around,
both of these.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
We got some lacerations here.
- Maybe some broken fingers.
- Yeah.
We got a compound fracture
in the finger.
Oh, and check this out. There's a
there's plastic embedded in the flesh.
Right.
That's gonna be part
of what ruined your day,
although you won't be able
to hear anyone
tell you about how stupid you just were,
'cause you'll have
permanent hearing damage.
Yep, not only was the force enough
to force bones through flesh,
a halo of plastic shrapnel
was embedded into the hands.
Look, we called this episode
"do try this at home"
because we've spent more than a decade
doing all sorts
of random dangerous things
that you should totally not
try yourself.
Aaahh!
But we had to end it here
with something we hear
about a lot of people doing,
and we wanted to make it
crystal clear for you
and we think we have
that putting dry ice and water
in a soda bottle
is no laughing matter.
You can be permanently damaged
by "playing around"
with something this dangerous.
Don't do it.
So, we have microwaved,
speedboated, synchronized,
levitated, frothed, suspended,
and exploded,
and out of all of that, four are
definitely too dangerous
to try at home.
Now, when it comes to the others,
please make sure
you're with a responsible adult,
and use your common sense.